This is not the first time this happened. A Competition Package F80 M3 blew its motor with a PTF OTS tune and PTF just hung the owner out to dry. No support, no analyzing of logs, nothing. Not even a 'whoops sorry about that'.

You can read what happened here:

Blown motors happen. There is no tuner that has never suffered a failure of some sort and if they say they haven't run away. It is how these failure are handled that separates the good from the bad.

In this case, PTF ignored the customer and quietly revised their tune. Why revise the tune immediately afterward if everything is fine?

The problem with OTS tunes is some tuners try to demonstrate superiority by squeezing out every last horse but cars and fuel quality vary. A custom dyno tune is superior in this respect.

The more you push toward that fine line with an OTS tune the less leeway there is for temperature, elevation, and fuel quality changes which can potentially be an issue.

Regardless, PTF offered no support. They will not support you. They are interested in selling tunes and cover themselves by saying it is on you if something goes wrong with their software which you should not have been using in a street car anyway:

Originally Posted by PTF

Vehicles modified by the use of performance parts may no longer be lawfully used on public highways. Further, all engine parts, headlight units, light bulbs and electrical components are sold AS IS without any warranty and may not be returned. User assumes all cost and risks associated with these and other import items.

Is that really what you expect from so-called 'Professional' tuners? At the very least they could help figure out what happened so it doesn't happen to anyone else. But that takes time and effort. Time and effort which they would rather spend selling tunes they know are going into street cars and daily drivers.

I feel bad for the owner and I know the point of this article is probably more about how PTF handled the problem after the fact, than the problem itself; but I don’t really understand what this person was doing. The first thing is the BM3 Stage 1 feels NOTHING like stock. I’m not sure if they failed to actually load the stage 1 tune and were still running the stock tune or what, but that is a very inaccurate assessment of the stage 1 tune. Secondly, was this car otherwise stock? The stage 2 is not intended for an otherwise stock car. The timing is too aggressive for a car with the stock primary cats in place (i.e. too much backpressure). Even on stage 1 you will see timing corrections on a stock car, so I wouldn’t try to run the stage 2 without catless DP’s or higher octane fuel.

PTF sucks balls. I just helped a guy 2 weeks ago on another site. He was having issues. Looked at his logs and told him it was tuning related. He said it was pro tuned and they said a buncha parts were at fault. He spent quite a bit and was lost and upset. After us going back n forth, he ditched PTF (I did not know at this time who was doing the "pro tune") and went with another tuner. He said in the first revision, all his problems were gone and thanked me.

Yikes...the owner of the car certainly is stupid as $#@! for just throwing the stage 2 tune on a stock car because the stage 1 didn't feel different enough.
I can kind of see PTF's side that isn't really their fault but maybe they need to be more clear in their marketing not to put the stage 2 on without supporting mods.

Maybe PTF didn't offer good enough support but Sticky I think you are far too quick to put all the blame on the tuner (here and in past posts). I get you want to get information out there but 9/10 times when some owner says "X tuner blew my engine" there is WAAAAY more to the story and the majority of the blame falls on the clueless owner or a shady shop.

Maybe PTF didn't offer good enough support but Sticky I think you are far too quick to put all the blame on the tuner (here and in past posts). I get you want to get information out there but 9/10 times when some owner says "X tuner blew my engine" there is WAAAAY more to the story and the majority of the blame falls on the clueless owner or a shady shop.

This is not some amateur or someone who did not know what they are doing.

If they were logging boost, AFR, and timing, can he tell us what specifically caused the engine to blow? Can you get the final log and post it here? If the owner can provide more details, people will be less likely to jump to their own conclusions. I’m not making any excuses for PTF, but the info in the first post makes me question the judgement of the M3 owner.

If they were logging boost, AFR, and timing, can he tell us what specifically caused the engine to blow? Can you get the final log and post it here? If the owner can provide more details, people will be less likely to jump to their own conclusions. I’m not making any excuses for PTF, but the info in the first post makes me question the judgement of the M3 owner.

I can see what he has but the M3 owner worked for a solid shop who opened the motor and rebuilt it. I think he knows what happened to his motor.